Canadians vying for spot at Tour Championship

Adam Hadwin is on the outside looking in at the FedEx Cup, but after 36 holes of the BMW Championship, he’s given himself a chance to move on up. Corey Conners, meanwhile, continues to cement his position inside the top 30 and is 36 holes away from a start at the Tour Championship, Bob Weeks writes.

Adam Hadwin is on the outside looking in at the FedEx Cup, but after 36 holes at the BMW Championship, he’s given himself a chance to move on up.

Corey Conners, meanwhile, continues to cement his position inside the top 30 and is 36 holes away from a start at the Tour Championship.

On Friday, Hadwin put together another solid round at Medinah Country Club that saw him briefly hold the lead at the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs before settling in a tie for fifth. At day’s end, he was sitting on the bubble of the top 30 players who will advance to next week’s Tour Championship, projected to finish 32nd.

“I felt like it was a little more scrappy today but I got it around the golf course,” said Hadwin after his four-under 68, “so that’s kind of the key when you might not be feeling your best.”

The second round was one higher than his opener and included a three-under front side along with two birdies and a bogey on his inward nine.

Hadwin’s score was again lifted by the work on the greens, which has been steadily improving as the year has progressed.

“I’ve rolled the putter well for two days and I’m seeing the lines really well on the greens,” said Hadwin, who used just 28 putts on Friday. “If I can give myself chances I like my ability to stay up there on the leaderboard.”

Hadwin wasn’t the only Canadian with a solid round of golf on Friday. Conners used a four-under back nine for a round of 66 and sits tied with his Canadian counterpart in fifth place.

“Did a really good job of managing my game,” said Conners. “Had a bonus birdie on 16 near the end, holed the bunker shot and followed up with a really good iron shot on 17. Finished off the round really well and happy with the game. Everything felt pretty good.”

Conners comes into this week ranked 27th on the FedEx Cup standings with an excellent chance to advance to the Tour Championship next week.

“Really going to focus on charging up the leaderboard the rest of the weekend,” he said, knowing he can’t relax. “”Feel like my game is in great shape, so, why not go for it.”

Hadwin will need to stay high on the leaderboard if he wants to advance to next week’s Tour Championship, the final event on the PGA Tour’s calendar. He started this week 48th on the FedEx Cup list and needs to move inside the top 30. He admitted that he’d be trying to go low on the weekend to extend his year.

“I’m in a position where I kind of need to do that to take care of a number of things,” he stated, “so just keep grinding, keep trying to make as many birdies as I can and say as high as I can on that leaderboard.”

For both players, making it to the Tour Championship comes with a lot of extras including a piece of the $60 million FedEx Cup bonus pool. The winner earns $15 million while $5 million goes to the runner-up. Even 30th spot isn’t too bad with a $395,00 payday.

But there’s more than that. Players get exemptions into three of the four major championships as well as all the World Golf Championship events.

The two Canadians are also eyeing a spot on the International Team for the Presidents Cup set for this December in Australia. Conners is 17th while Hadwin sits 18th on those standings and a good finish would likely improve their chances.